Upper West prisons request training tools for inmates
The Upper West Regional Prisons Service Command has appealed to the general public for support with the requisite logistics to ensure that the prisoners are reformed with the will and skills to live good lives in society.
Speaking in an interview, the Regional Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Prisons (ASP) Joseph Kpiriko, said their efforts to train convicted prisoners were being hampered by inadequate and obsolete weaving, sewing and designing equipment and tools.
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Employable skills
Despite this, ASP Kpiriko said they were training interested prisoners in smock weaving and tailoring at the training centre by empowering them with self-employable skills albeit with only one sewing machine.
He said the centre also produced smocks of different sizes, which were comparable to those on the market, adding that at the tailoring side, the prison officers and their dependents relied on the services of the inmates to sew their official uniforms and other dresses.
ASP Kpiriko, therefore, appealed to the public to come to the aid of the prisons with the necessary equipment and tools to enable them to expand the services and train more inmates.
He also pleaded with the public to accept the inmates when they returned to society after serving their terms.
Stigma
“The stigma attached to prison returnees sometimes creates a great readiness for the continuation of crimes, through which they are made to return to the prisons.
It only aggravates and increases the number of people addicted to illegal behaviour as a way of life,” he said.
The PRO said they also needed a generator and medicines for the infirmary since they had qualified nurses among the officials to take care of the prisoners’ health needs.
